In Western civilization we were always taught that Alexander the Great was a great military leader and at the age of 33 he had conquered the world! I did some research on this historical figure because I wanted to write an article about him. My research disclosed something very surprising. People in the non-Western part of the world have a different view of this man. He was Alexander the ... not all that great! What were you taught about Alexander the Great?

2 Answers

In my country Iran, Alexander is a savage who destroyed and burned Perpolis, the capital of Persian Kingdom. It was the wealthiest city. Alexander's Army killed all the people and pundered all the city and Palaces. The persian treasures which he pillaged was legendary. 2500 tones silver and gold which were carried by 3000 camles to Greek. Worth of all, He burned Apadana Library with 20000 Holy texts written on cow leather and destroyed clayey tablets. The remains of Places are still in Iran and they are still marked by Alexnader fire. But we know that if a person is hero in some part of this world, may be he is savage in another culture and palace. We also have this type of heros and kings for example "Nader Shah" is one of our greatest kings but I know the indians have the opposit opinion.

On your note about destroying a wealthy city with priceless treasures, I can't recall who, what, or where but I remember a story about a man who conquered a wealthy city. He scoffed at the person he had overthrown and asked: "What do think of your great city now that it will be destroyed by us?" The leader who was conquered replied: "Oh it's not my city. It's yours. Destroy those valuable riches if you like." The Conqueror immediately ordered that the destruction, the burning and looting, etc., be stopped. I don't know if that's a true story but it's a story that makes you think about the rise and fall of various kingdoms and the destruction of things that could have been preserved.

First of all, I want to draw your attention to the proven fact that history is a two or more sided tale, but 90% of the time, only the victors are been recorded. Such is the case of Alexander the great where a vast majority of recorded history paints him as an ancient hero, a demigod and probably the youngest king and warrior ever to attain such powers as his.

Make no mistake, Alexander the great is undoubtedly one of the greatest minds ever to walk the earth, he was and I believe still is one of the very few humans closely associated with a God like figure. A man who at the age of 30 had already conquered the know world back then, it is only normal for people (people from places he gave protection, people from places his armies destroyed), to express different opinions and perspectives about him.

Western history will definitely say victors about Alexander given that most of the western regions during his time enjoyed his protection, paid him royalties in return for not waging wars against them and above all, he was their beloved ruler. On the hand, regions like Asia where he campaigned with much larger armies and made some of the biggest plunders of his time unfortunately falls under the other 10% sided part of history which will tell a different tale about Alexander the great.

Indeed the non-Western records do present a different side to the story. But I am glad that I was able to hear or read these additional facts. Because regardless that we want to paint historical figures as "larger than life", in reality they are just like you and me. They are ordinary human beings who accomplished some things in their life that people wanted to take notes about and keep for posterity.